This invention relates generally to food slicing machines, and more specifically to machines that slice food products by reciprocating the food products through a path that includes a blade.
In conventional food slicing machines, a workpiece-retaining carriage is driven for the purpose of reciprocating a food product workpiece, such as a cheese or processed meat log, through a cutter. The carriage is reciprocated through a path that causes the end of the food product workpiece to pass through a slicing blade. The food product workpiece contained in the carriage is thereby cut, forming a slice that falls downwardly due to gravity. The slice can be dropped onto a conveyor belt beneath the machine, or other substrates as the substrates are conveyed beneath the machine. U.S. Pat. No. 3,760,715 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,007 disclose food slicing machines, and are incorporated herein by reference.
The workpiece-retaining carriage is linked to a drive mechanism, which can include pivoting cranks connected to rotary motors (hydraulic, pneumatic, electric, etc.) that rotate a belt or chain around a pulley or gear that is connected to the carriage. Alternatively, linear prime movers, such as hydraulic or pneumatic rams can be used to drive the carriage. Drive mechanisms are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,012, which is incorporated herein by reference.
A prior art reciprocating slicing machine, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,741, which is incorporated herein by reference, teaches to slice food products using a continuous blade that extends around a pair of pulleys and is driven in the manner of a band saw. A motor drives one pulley and a pulley on the opposite side of the machine serves as an idler pulley. Between the pulleys, the blade extends through a slot in a blade guide that mounts to the machine's frame. The blade guide disposes the blade a predetermined distance from an adjustable thickness tray, and this distance affects the thickness of each slice because the lower end of the food log slides against the thickness tray. After each slice is formed and the slice falls away, the food product workpiece is driven back across the blade by the carriage with the lower end of the workpiece supported by the blade. Once the workpiece reaches the sharp edge of the blade, it drops down onto the thickness tray so that another slice can be formed during the next stroke through the blade. The operation of the slicing machine is thus cyclical, with a cutting stroke during the first half of the cycle and a return stroke during the second half of the cycle.
The workpiece retaining carriages of conventional “pendulum slicers”, as the above-referenced reciprocating machines are typically called, are loaded with food products from the top of the workpiece-retaining carriage. Operators simply place a food log in the open top of each substantially cylindrical carriage as the food product previously loaded is being removed by slicing at the lower end, but before the previously loaded log is fully removed by slicing. Therefore, the weight of food product above the thickness tray forces the lower end of the log downwardly onto the thickness tray that is spaced from the blade to determine the slice thickness. This weight maintains consistency in slice thickness.
Many food slicing processes leave an end cap, which is a relatively thick “heel” of a food log that is not sliced for various reasons. End caps are typically significantly thicker than slices of the same food product, and are not successfully sliced in pendulum slicers. Part of the reason end caps are not sliced in pendulum slicers is because they are often dome-shaped, which makes them difficult to stack in order for sufficient weigh to be applied to the lowest end cap. Furthermore, because carriages are tall, top loading of multiple end caps is likely to result in orientations other than the desired orientation which the domed surface faces upwardly. End caps are typically either sliced inefficiently with low safety by hand or wasted due to inefficiencies in conventional machines for slicing end caps.
Therefore, the need exists for a food slicing machine that can slice end caps efficiently so that the food product therein is not wasted.